[Drama 2021] Penthouse/War in Life, 펜트하우스

[larus]

1 hour ago, jongski said:

@larus does KSY look kinda thin? Not sure what is the correct term. Slim?  Maybe just some angles  showing her face. But I like class and sass.. she's the antagonist here. The mean one but she and Lee Ji Ah.. I like how they're always wearing these classy outfits.  And yes... too much shouting.  I'm curious about SR. who did she visit in the hospital? What's going to happen to the affair of JDT and SJ... naughty!

 

She always have been like that. She said that when she was younger she put pins on her clothes (the smallest number) to fit her. Now she is older and it is more evident her slim figure. She had more mass muscle when she did Iris, in 2009.

Regardelss, she is a beautiful woman. I enjoy her stylish outfits, her jewelry in Penthouse.

The apartements are very luxurious. I like them. It might have cost so much money to make the set.

Su Ryung went to see her comatose daughter. That child was hurt by someone and she will get revenge on the people who made her that way.

 

1 hour ago, jongski said:

Was it Seo-Jin who feel or was pushed from the from the high rise elevator crashing onto ceiling landing on the huge angel statue fountain? It was her right?

No, it was not Seo Jin. It was the math tutor, the one who gave a fake name (Anna Lee) in the first episode.

Perhaps Seo Jin has something to do with her fall but it was showed that she was dancing with Joo Dan Tae in the Marie Antoinette costume when she felt. We don`t know for sure the time periods. I think Oh Yoon hee saw who did it but she won`t tell. She gets the money for the silence. Perhaps that was the murder she witnessed.

 

 

1 hour ago, jongski said:

Joo Dan-Tae - I wonder if you're  Rona's father???? it's longer drama, you never know.

 

No, he is not Bae Rona`s father. But Yoon Chul (Seo Jin`s husband) was Oh Yoon Hee`s ex boyfriend. If it has to be more drama, he could be her father but I doubt it.

 

 

 

1 hour ago, jongski said:

It's definitely "Sky Castle" for the arts. It lack the class and refine execution of the aforementioned one.  It's the type of drama...like a 50 episode of drama. Melodrama.  Too much shouting

.

Sky Castle was a little makjang and presented the high class in a black humor kind of way but it was more refined. I agree. I like it from the first episode. Penthouse not so much. It is like a telenovela. Cheap soap opera style with crazy people, shouting, cat fights and lots of secrets. But yes, can be addictive. I am not addicted with those.

 

I enjoyed to read your thoughts. I hope you will continue to give us your impressions.  I don`t know if I will comment much but I will answer some questions or I will give my perspective on the scenes if I need to say something. 

 

[Nyein Chan]

Oh yes, I wish KSY put on some weight. She looks awesome already tho.

[obbor4]

Eugene running across the table and kicking that fool's teeth out was reminiscent of 'Geum Jandi' planting that much deserved spinning back kick on 'Goo Jun-pyo's' face in Boys Over Flowers. It was like her announcing to that room full of creeps, "GAME ON!!!" I've never seen Eugene being so fierce, Take no prisoners, Oh Yoon Hee! 

[larus]

I did not watch episode 2 but I saw some videos on You Tube. They are showing Joo Dan Tae as an abusive father. He has a room in the house where he beats his children. Yeah... this show really wants to portray their villains as monsters. What is a complexed villain? Never heard of it.

 

Cheon Seo-jin (Kim So yeon) and Ju Dan-tae (Eom Gi-jun) enjoy a date in their own private place, and Min Seol-ah (Jo Su-min) secretly captures it.

So the victim from the first episode is already messing with dangerous people. She takes pictures of them kissing.

I don`t know why Seo Jin seduced Dan Tae. I am not sure if it was a calculated step or an impulse. She felt frustrated in the marriage, thought that she will need him, it was her need to have something more (a thrill, more power) but as I said earlier, she made a mistake. Joo Dan Tae is dangerous. He already is showing signs of possessiveness. Bad signs, Seo Jin! Run! Can Seo Jin handle him? Perhaps. Or they will kill each other in the end.

 

 

About the tutor. She is smart. I can`t tell right now if she lied about her name just to enter Hera Palace just to have a job or with another agenda in mind. I don`t know if she subtle manipulated Seo Jin or it was just a genuine response. I like how Seo Jin slowly soften when they talk about the school , she had nostalgia about the old school/ apple cake. I think Min Seol Ah/ Anna Lee prepared very well for the interview.

[larus]

From ep 3 I like the moment when Oh Yoon Hee sang with her daughter on the hall. Bae Ro na is lucky that her mother is so close to her. Seo Jin`s daughter saw them. I feel sorry for her that she doesn`t have a mother who accepts her the way she is. I hope her father will take her side more.

[lilcrash]

Arghh why are the rich kids in this drama so bad? I thought Ha Eun-byeol would be a decent kid, but near the end of Ep2 the writer just had to make all the rich kids bully Min Seol-ah.

 

So from Ep2 we know that Sim Soo-ryeon is not the biological mother of Seok-hoon and Seok-kyung. No wonder they are so cold towards her. Joo Hye-in, the girl laying in the hospital bed is a fake daughter that Joo Dan-tae hired. I think Min Seol-ah is Sim Soo-ryeon's biological daughter.

 

Min Seol-ah is treading on thin ice, she might show the kissing video to Sim Soo-ryeon and Soo-ryeon will find out what kind of monster her husband Joo Dan-tae is. 

[tofumochu]

Finally found this community open for discussion on this drama. I noticed most of the users on another site are quick to dismiss Penthouse and Sky Castle having similarities. I think there are clashes with both stories - but this one's on affairs and their focus to get into the arts school. Also the characteristics of the wives, children, and husbands, two mothers with a dark tensions, the murder mystery, the resident clubs, the children's competition. I can almost imagine them as subtle variations of the characters in Sky Castle. (So yeon- mixture of seo jin since all the other residents kiss her RickRoll'D, hye na- anna lee, ye seo- je ni, a set of twins with one rebel and one chill, etc). I know makjang dramas like this usually follow tropes but idk feels kinda iffy when I compare the two kinda like when I watched gone girl then saw 'my dangerous wife' (that kinda feeling vibe). Last time that happened was 'graceful friends', but that didn't turn out well - but it did stray away from castle vibes after a few episodes.

 

So far Penthouse has an emotional trainwreck that makes me angry, upset, and much more because the characters are so difficult and despicable. There's so many families and so much individuality for them to show but in summary, they're all jerk-y rich with status inferiority issues. It's taking an emotional toll on the kids because they're turning out just as bad as their parents (and maybe even worse). There's no repenting for these kids and adults, they're all hopeless spawns of the devil. I know that Eugene's the representative of heroic justice in this hell of dehumanized beings, but the writer makes it so hard to continue just to watch her growth. Ro Na isn't making it easier.

 

Eugene's character is supposed to be the bleach that cleans the awful people in this drama. But no much fresh air today to breath on Eugene's side. Such a pity for Ro na's competition though - in this decade, all the entry terms would've been displayed on the website, wouldn't it? There's no way she wouldn't know about about the guidelines and expectations before registering unless it's an 'open for calls' competition. They should've realized Soyeon is a conflict of interest - she's part of the jury yet, and clearly has power for manipulation. Eugene should've expected her daughter to never get in... but Ro Na's reaction was over the top. She is at a stage of teenage rebellion, but blaming her mother for not coming from privilege and faulting her also for the manipulated competition; knowing about Eugene's tensions with Soyeon - is just plain wrong.  Just because you don't get into one school doesn't make your life over. It's like one minute Ro Na is a tolerable character then the next, you want to smack her. She watched her mother is being RickRoll'D on and trampled by a witch lady, and Ro Na pushes her aside screaming 'I want to sing'.  Even if she wants to sing, she should've come back after hearing Eugene out. Today's epi where Eugene sang with Ro Na when she went into panic mode before the competition was kinda sweet though minus the end.

 

Lee jiah is such a quiet one. She's so timid and nice (or is she faking it?) yet her kids turned out to be disastrous tyrants with bratty behavioural problems (especially the twin daughter, even though they're not biologically hers). No way she didn't know something was going on with her kids and husband behind their back.

Her husband is a two faced pretentious douchebag for cheating and physically abusing their children. It makes sense his children ended up the way they are.

But with his affair with soyeon: It's like c'mon dude, you're next to a huge transparent window smacking it up - when you don't want to be discovered - again, in your residential building. Just asking to get caught...

 

Soyeon - not much to talk about her other than how witchy she is for abusing wealth and power. Her affair with kijoon I don't really get - other than the thrill? and her husband hating her.

Ma ri and her daughter are spoiled eggs. (Jin Ji hee plays that annoying spoiled daughter pretty well like usual)

Joo hee doesn't show up tons, but her character is bearable but her family's not.

 

Wow, the kids tho. The addition of their stories made the plot more frustrating to watch. All the rich kids are such entitled snoots - but that's expected of wealthy upbringing and bad role models . They're young but so wrong in so many ways. The female twin aka the Ringleader, even with a sad backstory of abuse with her brother and not being biological, has no excusable pity from me for her treatment to Anna (even if she lied). The way the kids all disappeared, bagged Anna, dragged her into a secluded junkyard to shame her for lying and getting first place was a real nightmare.  

I thought soyeon's daughter was the only saint in their crew but boy, I was wrong. Not one child in this drama seems to be likeable minus Anna.

 

Side things that bothered me in this drama:
-If Hera palace is really that huge, shouldn't they have more residents...? I'd expect to see more than 4 couples in that tiny club 

-Kinda funny for the writer chose classical singing as the kids' choice of competition though. lol wouldn't majority just go into kpop or become soloists. I know half their kids are being forced into this path, but not everyone is gene-d with  superior vocal skills for this. There's like 5+ kids+the tutor+Ro Na and they all happen to want to go into classical singing...

-If the anna lee's the same age as the twins and also in middle school, it's kinda questionable how she even got hired in the first place. I assumed the rich hire children from other rich through word of mouth or etc. and I would expect the sophisticated meticulous soyeon to do a background check on her but she somehow let that slip? (Makjangs are notorious for using background checks and dna tests on everyone suspect) Anna's choice of wig disguise is no different from her regular haircut. They're acting like it's the iconic sailormoon reveal. 

This is truly makjang, but at a frustrating level diminishing it no different than the ones I watch in daily and weekends. Great cast but execution could be better.  

I think I'll still stay though but two seasons will be a rough patch. It's been so long that I've written such an angsty summary of a drama because my head's splitting apart thinking about what I just watched.

 

 

Edited October 28, 2020 by tofumochu

[Nyein Chan]

5 hours ago, lilcrash said:

Arghh why are the rich kids in this drama so bad? I thought Ha Eun-byeol would be a decent kid, but near the end of Ep2 the writer just had to make all the rich kids bully Min Seol-ah.

 

So from Ep2 we know that Sim Soo-ryeon is not the biological mother of Seok-hoon and Seok-kyung. No wonder they are so cold towards her. Joo Hye-in, the girl laying in the hospital bed is a fake daughter that Joo Dan-tae hired. I think Min Seol-ah is Sim Soo-ryeon's biological daughter.

 

Min Seol-ah is treading on thin ice, she might show the kissing video to Sim Soo-ryeon and Soo-ryeon will find out what kind of monster her husband Joo Dan-tae is. 

Yeah. The inconsistency is showing. The writer is not really aware or is he really Z grade?

[larus]

“Record Of Youth” Ends With Personal Best Ratings As “The Penthouse” Continues New Lead

TV/Film

Oct 28, 2020

by C. Hong

 

Meanwhile, SBS’s new drama “The Penthouse” continued to make a strong case for being the new leader in this time slot. After premiering to ratings just under 10 percent, the second episode of the drama surpassed that milestone with ratings of 8.2, 9.8, and 10.1 percent.

 

https://www.soompi.com/article/1434316wpp/record-of-youth-ends-with-personal-best-ratings-for-final-episode-as-the-penthouse-continues-new-lead

 

[monalisa]

I thought it was Ro na that fell from the building?

[larus]

I`ve just finished episode 2 and it is officially for me. The worst drama choice for Kim So Yeon and I watched everything it was available from her projects. This drama is extremely ridiculous that even if I tried to not take it serious, I failed to see any logic and common sense in the writing.  I lasted 6 episodes of Kim Sun Ok`s latest drama (the Last Empress) but I surrender at ep 2 this time. Maybe I will continue to watch for Kim So yeon but It is my last post in this thread because I don`t want to annoy the people who enjoy watching this drama with my rants/ lamentations.

 

OK, I don`t like the genre but I tried to be open minded. It is a parody, I say to myself. People try to compare to Sky Castle but this drama can`t hold a candle to JTBC drama. It had fine humor and it was a satire of the rich people but the writing had depth.

I don`t know what wanted the writer to portray here.  That the rich world are putrid and they act that they own the world? That we have to sympathize with the poor, talented and good peaple? You can do that without showing extreme violence and crazyness. How can I talk about what they are doing wrong when I see crazy people? The writer wanted the audience to hate the evil rich people so much and she wants them to stay to see how they die in the end? I have to watch a train wreck and find it interesting to watch?

 

I see from a mile that Min Seol Ah is the biological daughter of Shin Su Ryun. Of course, we`ll find out that Joo Dan Tae orchestrated the charade of a fake daughter for 16 years for WHAT? God knows. He is crazy. She had a happy life with other man (from the photo) but Jo Dan tae made something and played the kind rescuer for her and her daughter. 

Don`t tell me. The father will appear later and he is Logan Lee, the rich man from US, who will apprear later.

Shin Su Ryun was so clueless that she never realised by now that her adopted kids are being abused by their father. He is doing it just when she is away.  Of course they twins are disturbed. And Joo Dan Tae has a special room , like a huge safe box, where he torture people or beats his kids. Is his sick pleasure?

Now he wants to end the charade with the fake daughter. Why keep it so long? He wanted to watch his wife grief when a medical crisis appeared from time to time? The fake daughter was a random sick child or he hired someone for the part for 16 years? (the second scenario is crazy but I would not be surprised). It is the first scenario, I am going to bet that when they want to disconnect the machines she will wake up. Perfectly fine, of course.

 

How all these kids are trained classical musicians? We had one poor child but genius talented kid, Bae Rona,self-taught student and now we have two? Min Seol Ah wants to be a classical singer too? These two girls wants to be singers so bad but they are poor. Instead, the rich kids, less talented or witholut talent are pushed by their parents to be singers. Yes, it happeneds in real life when parents push children to do what they want. But classical music?  I laughed when I heard Jo Dan Tae`s explanation why he wants his daughter to enter Cheol Ah colleage. He wants a classical musician in his family. It was his dream. Ok, let the son be a musician. You want two? And there aren`t any other music high schools/ colleages in South Korea or this world? Every kid from Hera Palace had to go to music schools?

 

Soon, Seol Ah will be killed. Oh Yoon Hee will watch who did it but she stays silent and take the money because she wants to be a resident of Hera Palace too. Shin Su Ryung gets her mojo back and she  will find the truth, the evil people will be defeated and everything will be fine again. The End.

 

One more comment. I laugh when even the veterinar was a scammer. It was not funny but I could not believe my eyes. Facepalms.

 

Why this over the top, ridiculous madness has two seasons? 

 

 

[nat_phoenix88]

Haha "it's a parody i say to my self". While it's a makjang drama what do you expect, i say to my self" 

 

Also, agree on the classical singer. Are you kidding me, why do the parents obsess with classic music? Since when huh? It's just too funny for me to watch them singing. Oppss. Sorry my bad.

 

Ahhh and one more thing, maybe they should cast younger actors and actresses for students role.

 

I actually would skip this drama if it's not for KSY. I want to see her comeback but I don't really like this kind of makjang drama. Damn. Now I'm confused should continue this or just cut it off. Sigh.

[obbor4]

10 hours ago, tofumochu said:

Finally found this community open for discussion on this drama. I noticed most of the users on another site are quick to dismiss Penthouse and Sky Castle having similarities. I think there are clashes with both stories - but this one's on affairs and their focus to get into the arts school. Also the characteristics of the wives, children, and husbands, two mothers with a dark tensions, the murder mystery, the resident clubs, the children's competition. I can almost imagine them as subtle variations of the characters in Sky Castle. (So yeon- mixture of seo jin since all the other residents kiss her RickRoll'D, hye na- anna lee, ye seo- je ni, a set of twins with one rebel and one chill, etc). I know makjang dramas like this usually follow tropes but idk feels kinda iffy when I compare the two kinda like when I watched gone girl then saw 'my dangerous wife' (that kinda feeling vibe). Last time that happened was 'graceful friends', but that didn't turn out well - but it did stray away from castle vibes after a few episodes.

 

So far Penthouse has an emotional trainwreck that makes me angry, upset, and much more because the characters are so difficult and despicable. There's so many families and so much individuality for them to show but in summary, they're all jerk-y rich with status inferiority issues. It's taking an emotional toll on the kids because they're turning out just as bad as their parents (and maybe even worse). There's no repenting for these kids and adults, they're all hopeless spawns of the devil. I know that Eugene's the representative of heroic justice in this hell of dehumanized beings, but the writer makes it so hard to continue just to watch her growth. Ro Na isn't making it easier.

 

Eugene's character is supposed to be the bleach that cleans the awful people in this drama. But no much fresh air today to breath on Eugene's side. Such a pity for Ro na's competition though - in this decade, all the entry terms would've been displayed on the website, wouldn't it? There's no way she wouldn't know about about the guidelines and expectations before registering unless it's an 'open for calls' competition. They should've realized Soyeon is a conflict of interest - she's part of the jury yet, and clearly has power for manipulation. Eugene should've expected her daughter to never get in... but Ro Na's reaction was over the top. She is at a stage of teenage rebellion, but blaming her mother for not coming from privilege and faulting her also for the manipulated competition; knowing about Eugene's tensions with Soyeon - is just plain wrong.  Just because you don't get into one school doesn't make your life over. It's like one minute Ro Na is a tolerable character then the next, you want to smack her. She watched her mother is being RickRoll'D on and trampled by a witch lady, and Ro Na pushes her aside screaming 'I want to sing'.  Even if she wants to sing, she should've come back after hearing Eugene out. Today's epi where Eugene sang with Ro Na when she went into panic mode before the competition was kinda sweet though minus the end.

 

Lee jiah is such a quiet one. She's so timid and nice (or is she faking it?) yet her kids turned out to be disastrous tyrants with bratty behavioural problems (especially the twin daughter, even though they're not biologically hers). No way she didn't know something was going on with her kids and husband behind their back.

Her husband is a two faced pretentious douchebag for cheating and physically abusing their children. It makes sense his children ended up the way they are.

But with his affair with soyeon: It's like c'mon dude, you're next to a huge transparent window smacking it up - when you don't want to be discovered - again, in your residential building. Just asking to get caught...

 

Soyeon - not much to talk about her other than how witchy she is for abusing wealth and power. Her affair with kijoon I don't really get - other than the thrill? and her husband hating her.

Ma ri and her daughter are spoiled eggs. (Jin Ji hee plays that annoying spoiled daughter pretty well like usual)

Joo hee doesn't show up tons, but her character is bearable but her family's not.

 

Wow, the kids tho. The addition of their stories made the plot more frustrating to watch. All the rich kids are such entitled snoots - but that's expected of wealthy upbringing and bad role models . They're young but so wrong in so many ways. The female twin aka the Ringleader, even with a sad backstory of abuse with her brother and not being biological, has no excusable pity from me for her treatment to Anna (even if she lied). The way the kids all disappeared, bagged Anna, dragged her into a secluded junkyard to shame her for lying and getting first place was a real nightmare.  

I thought soyeon's daughter was the only saint in their crew but boy, I was wrong. Not one child in this drama seems to be likeable minus Anna.

 

Side things that bothered me in this drama:
-If Hera palace is really that huge, shouldn't they have more residents...? I'd expect to see more than 4 couples in that tiny club 

-Kinda funny for the writer chose classical singing as the kids' choice of competition though. lol wouldn't majority just go into kpop or become soloists. I know half their kids are being forced into this path, but not everyone is gene-d with  superior vocal skills for this. There's like 5+ kids+the tutor+Ro Na and they all happen to want to go into classical singing...

-If the anna lee's the same age as the twins and also in middle school, it's kinda questionable how she even got hired in the first place. I assumed the rich hire children from other rich through word of mouth or etc. and I would expect the sophisticated meticulous soyeon to do a background check on her but she somehow let that slip? (Makjangs are notorious for using background checks and dna tests on everyone suspect) Anna's choice of wig disguise is no different from her regular haircut. They're acting like it's the iconic sailormoon reveal. 

This is truly makjang, but at a frustrating level diminishing it no different than the ones I watch in daily and weekends. Great cast but execution could be better.  

I think I'll still stay though but two seasons will be a rough patch. It's been so long that I've written such an angsty summary of a drama because my head's splitting apart thinking about what I just watched.

 

 

I agree 100% with everything that you've observed regarding the first two episodes. Episode One left me lifted, knowing that Eugene's character had her hackles up, and was ready to fight tooth and nail to bring these people down. Anything, and everything, went completely to hell in episode two. The parents, and their horrible spawn are not at all redeemable, at this point. And this is before the eventual tragedy that we know the tutor will face. I'm still here for Eugene, but it's going to be a painful ride to the top of that penthouse. 

[jongski]

11 hours ago, larus said:

The worst drama choice for Kim So Yeon and I watched everything it was available from her projects.

@larus I like her much in 'Prettiest Daughter',  'Happy Home' and  'Secret Mother' Thanks for the insightful post  I haven't seen ep 2. Still busy with real life.. but weekend's coming so... I'll check. 

 

@tofumochu your font is so small 

[larus]

5 hours ago, jongski said:

' Thanks for the insightful post  I haven't seen ep 2. Still busy with real life.. but weekend's coming so... I'll check. 

 

All the cast is doing a good job in this drama. It is just me that I don`t like the plot. I know I am biased. I hope you will like it. I hope Soyeon will chose a serious drama next time. She could make an intense character in other type of dramas. Take care!

 

The genuine smile I got when frivolous rich people have dinners together and the are secretly envious of each other. They are portrayed as shallow, with empty desires. Now, let see how the person who dream to live among those rich people will do. They will want to go up, leaving responsibility and conscience behind? The idea behind the drama is interesting but the execution in the soap opera style is not my cup of tea. 

 

[partyon]

EVENT: Halloween - evil oppas, unnis and mother-in-laws !

 

Join us for part 2 of our Halloween event! Let us know who you think are the most evil dudes out there.

 

 

 

re: @Lmangla

[larus]

 

 

****

Eugene and Kim Hyun Soo BTS

https://www.instagram.com/p/CGz6XwIH2bB/

 

[lilcrash]

On 10/28/2020 at 11:16 PM, monalisa said:

I thought it was Ro na that fell from the building?

It was not Ro na, it was Min Seol-ah/Anna Lee/maths tutor.

 

-----------------

 

So after the broadcast of Ep 1 & 2 this week, the Korea Communications Standards Commission received 190 complaints on this drama for inappropriate content. The content rating for Ep 1 & 2 was 15+. Ep 3 will stay 15+, due to the complaints SBS decided to change the content rating for Ep 4 to 19+.

News link: https://tenasia.hankyung.com/drama/article/2020102940664

[jongski]

2 hours ago, larus said:

the soap opera style is not my cup of tea. 

Thank you larus. Found the term I was looking for... soap opera.  I was thinking of the right term and because I forgot I just  said in previous posts. it's like a 50 episode type of melodrama.

[Jenn H]

Already watched 2 eps. the classical vocal setting is ridiculous. If Eugene character doesn't want her daughter to follow her footsteps, why bother putting her daughter in her alma mater in the first place? And the penthouse family is weird as well. Its not logical putting both of the twins in music school. I understand the rich-fam-trope wanting the daughter to be classical musician, but since the crazy dad (uhm ki joon) has successful business, wouldn't he want to put his son in normal high school? Its ridic that all families in the community want their children to be classical vocalist. There is no other instruments. Just vocalist. Such a specific job that requires specific born-talent. Asian families usually want their children to be doctors, lawyers, successors of their business, etc. I wasn't expecting the makjang and the vocalist thingy. The makjang is annoying but makjang are usually made like that. Its just all this vocalist business that is just so illogical. I want to like the drama since the setting and the fashion is beautiful but can't stand this classical vocal setting.